The Rival Queens, Vol. 3 of 3: A Story of the Modern Stage

Excerpt from The Rival Queens

Provided with a coarse towel, and a piece of soap, he improvised the best toilette he could under the circumstances. Returning to the large room, he found his fellow lodgers preparing their breakfast. Some were making coffee, some tea and toast, some were frying herrings or frizzling bacon, and all were seasoning their prepara tions with highly-flavoured jokes, or playful little blasphemies. Two or three men sat apart, silent and sorrowful, evidently conscious of their degra dation, but the majority were canaille, who seemed rather to enjoy the situation.